Wednesday, October 20, 2010

All messed up and nowhere to go

All messed up? - happy mess!! This is the first time I've used paperclay. Having read good advice online (thankyou Nikki and Michelle), I did what I usually do and went my own sweet way (born in the Year of the Goat = stubborn and never do what I'm told). I won't go into detail, but I had fun with plastic bags and rolling pins, water and a lot of luck.

Well I was lucky until I made the decision to lay the finished boards flat in the sun to dry.The cat woke up and with his unerring sense of helpfulness, quietly walked over the wet clay, then lay down on it - it was in the best sunny spot . . .Here's Mr Innocent - "who, me??" Note the dark fur - it shows up well on white clay . . .I had a sharp incline on the learning curve, with tweezers (for the fur) and clay mending (before it dried). Hmmmmm.

Now I've used up all the clay I had stashed away, and I'll have to save up to get more for the exterior walls. I didn't have a clue how much area it would cover. Answer: 32 ounces (900gm) did all the tower interior walls.

And the 'nowhere to go' bit? - My husband's away for a few days and the car's parked at the airport, so Oh No! I have to stay at home and work on the tower!! Yes!!

21 comments:

I have been looking tonight at houses that used a lot of paper clay. I think they are FANTASTIC!!! It is really astonishing how real the stone work and stucco walls look. I am sure some of that realism I saw has to do with how it is painted and aged. In which case I am in big trouble... paint hates me.

Dear Glenda, who wonder when the husband is away and the car is out of reach ...The only thing left to do but ... stay home and play with dolls!For less mess, I can also suggest the use of sheets of polystyrene, which is carving and paste very well, and coated with stucco looks good :-)Greetings to kitten, Flora

We can't get Paperclay over in the UK at the moment. I've brought some Fimo Light air dry clay, and I'm running tests on a packet, before I even attempt to put it on the tower. Will let everyone know the results..xxx

Sans - I glued thin sheets of paperclay to the MDF walls, then rubbed the surface with wet fingers to make the walls slightly uneven and more 'medieval'. In the photo the white layer on the boards is the clay. It's about 2mm thick.

This looks really neat! Btw another very easy way of making rough walls like this is to mix Plolyfilla with acrylic paint. You can apply it very neatly with a brush and I like it because the layer is really thin.

"Mr. Innocent" - that fits. Maybe he wanted to give you a hint what to do with your tower, perhaps a little werewolf's home where the hair is included in the bricks... (lol).

Paperclay is something that fascinates me, but I've seen so many wonderful pieces of art done with it that I simply don't dare to try this. I would never be able to achieve such results. And what's more, it's really hard to buy paperclay in Germany, I've found only one seller on ebay and it's very expensive. I've thought of trying an air drying clay like Debbie, but at last I decided that I'll simply use structure paste. Not very realistic, but easy to use for dumb like me... ;O)

GreetingsBirgit

P.S.: Congratulations for winning Kristy's contest. I would have picked the mouse, too, after a hard struggle, of course!

I enjoy using paperclay, but "Paperclay" brand is not the only one out there. I recently bought some called "Das". Looks to be made in Italy and distributed across Europe and South America. I have white but it also comes in terra cotta, I think.

They don't seem to have a specific website but I found lots of Google references. It costs less than Paperclay brand. 35oz (1 kg) for $11.

I can't get a close up of your clay, but it looks fine to me. ;o)) I always let mine dry completely naturally it seems to cut down on shrinkage and cracks (if you don't want the latter).

I can't advise how far your clay goes either as it depends how thickly you have rolled it and how many windows/doors you cut out.

I have DAS too (white), but it is different from Paperclay and is more like real clay I find. It's great alternative to paperclay. I've had my paperclay imported from the US as Debbie correctly states we can't buy it in the UK at the moment. :o))

animals...dont you just luv 'em!? dont fret about the quick dry cracks that have appeared, just wet it all again, leave it a few mins and it should soften up enough to squidge the cracks flat or just push some fresh clay into the cracks to fill them and smooth them over with a wet finger...and keep mr innocent in another room while it dries next time LOL I have one very precious packet of creative paperclay left... and its being kept to do my skool room floor IF I ever find the spare time to start it! I think I havnt started it in case I run out, cos its impossible to get any more here at the moment :o(

Mr Innocent is so gorgeous- how could you ever be mad at him?? His coat absolutely shines- it's so pretty! I love your walls- when we tore down one of our badly cracked plaster walls in our old farmhouse there was tons of animal hair mixed in the plaster. Of course- that would be one huge beast if we're thinking of the cat hair to 1/12 scale :) Hope you have fun being "stuck" in :)

BiWuBaer - if I can do it, then anyone can!!And I still can't believe I won Kristy's mouse!

Michelle - Paperclay is very expensive here, and hard to find, too. The exchange rate is lousy for us, and paperclay is heavy to post.I've done a search on air-dry clays, and there are lots, but same rules re postage :(I remember seeing cheaper stuff in art supply shops, maybe it's time to experiment with that, also with pastes/spackles/fillers.

Kim - yes! horsehair was used in wallfillers and home-made bricks in the old days LOL!!

Ill be using paperclay or equivalent soon and Im scared to death on how to do it, so Ill be onto all the experts for advice too!I think its one of those things you love or hate.......Im guessing Ill hate it lol!!! Glad it all came goo in the end!!! Kate xx

Peppercorns

mini-me

About Me

Allo! I'm Glenda, I've been making 12th-scale miniatures for a couple of years, and now returning to knitting after a 15-year gap. I loved it then and I love it now. Failures, successes - bring it on!
My Ravelry username is zspun